SF Giants Press Clips Sunday, May 21, 2017
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SF Giants Press Clips Sunday, May 21, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle Giants win 13-inning thriller on big Arroyo hit Henry Schulman ST. LOUIS — Over a 162-game season, not every game can be compelling. Some are so-so, others truly dreadful. On Saturday night, the Giants and Cardinals played a fantastic one. Nobody scored until Christian Arroyo hit a two-run, bases-loaded double in the 13th inning on the 12th pitch of his at-bat against lefty Kevin Siegrist. Pinch-hitter Nick Hundley added a sacrifice fly, and the Giants held on to win 3-1 to ensure a series victory. The Giants also won for the seventh time in eight games. Matt Cain faces Adam Wainwright in Sunday’s finale. The forecast is sunny, good news for both teams after another rain delay Saturday, this one for 42 minutes after the 10th inning. Arroyo, in a 5-for-32 slump, settled it with the at-bat of his big-league career. With one out, he fouled off five two-strike pitches, including three with a full count, before he drove the ball into the left-center gap. 1 Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford scored on Arroyo’s first extra-base hit since his three-run double in the ninth beat the Mets in New York on May 10. Eduardo Nuñez scored on Hundley’s sacrifice fly. With consecutive singles, Posey, Crawford and Nuñez matched the Giants’ entire hit total from the game’s first 12 innings. Mark Melancon collected his second save of the series despite allowing a two-out RBI single by Stephen Piscotty. Starters Jeff Samardzija and Carlos Martinez pitched a throwback duel. Samardzija allowed five hits and struck out eight in eight innings, and Josh Osich, Derek Law, Hunter Strickland and the Giants’ defense continued to keep the Cardinals at bay. Martinez held the Giants to two singles in his first nine-inning start in the majors. The game spun scoreless into extra innings and remained so when a thunderstorm forced the players off the field after Giants center fielder Denard Span ended the 10th inning with the best of three great defensive plays. With two outs, nobody on and Law pitching, Span outraced an Aledmys Diaz drive over his head, caught the ball and crashed into the center-field fence with his right shoulder, just as he did when he sprained it in Colorado and landed on the disabled list. He did not appear injured this time. Manager Bruce Bochy had no choice but to hit for Samardzija in the ninth inning of a scoreless game on the road. The Giants did not score, so Bochy sent Osich to the mound to face one hitter, left-handed Matt Carpenter, who drove a ball over left fielder Nuñez’s head and off the wall. The ball caromed so far toward the infield, forcing Nuñez to chase it, that Carpenter dared try for a leadoff triple. 2 But when Nuñez finally reached the ball, he threw a two-hopper to Arroyo, who tagged Carpenter for a potential game-saving out. Law then struck out Jedd Gyorko and Yadier Molina to send a 0-0 game into the 10th. Crawford made one of his better catches to start the first inning. Dexter Fowler led off with a Texas Leaguer that Crawford caught with a slide as deep into right-center field as a shortstop ever strays. Martinez held the Giants to singles by Joe Panik in the fourth and Nuñez in the eighth. The 25- year-old had an edge on the gun, hitting 98 mph, but Samardzija continued to pound the zone and mix his fastballs and offspeed pitches effectively. Coming off his first win of the year, Samardzija established a personal best with his fourth consecutive walk-free start. He has faced 133 hitters without a walk since the Padres’ Jabari Blash worked one on April 28. San Francisco Chronicle Now healthy, Bryan Morris contributing in Giants’ bullpen Henry Schulman ST. LOUIS — Reliever Bryan Morris had a worse spring than he could have imagined after the Giants invited him to try to make the club on a minor-league contract. He was sidelined by back spasms. When those subsided, he was throwing batting practice to prepare for the Cactus League and his right foot was broken by Juan Ciriaco ’s comebacker. When Morris’ foot healed and he went to Triple-A to pitch in rehab games, Ciriaco became a teammate. “When I got to Sacramento he apologized to me for 10 minutes,” Morris said. “I told him, ‘Hey, I was the one who threw the pitch.’” Morris might write an “all’s well that end’s well” tale for the Giants. The 30-year-old right- hander has become an effective and trusted reliever since his April 30 promotion. 3 Morris allowed five runs in two innings over his first two games, but that was understandable. He had pitched in only five minor-league games, two at Class A San Jose and three at Triple-A Sacramento, before the Giants brought him up to replace an ineffective Neil Ramirez . Since May 6, Morris has pitched six times without allowing a run. He pitched three frames in extras during the 17-inning win against the Reds on May 12 and earned victories in both recent road comebacks by the Giants, the May 10 game at New York and Friday night’s at Busch Stadium. He used a power sinker to retire the Cardinals in order in the eighth, striking out Yadier Molina and Aledmys Diaz . Morris had some good years with the Pirates and Marlins. He missed the final four months of the 2016 season after back surgery, which allowed the Giants to swoop in and sign him to a minor-league deal that former teammate Mark Melancon inadvertently announced during a conference call after the closer signed. “I did everything I could to come back at the end of last year, but it wasn’t in the cards,” Morris said. “Fortunately for me, this opportunity came up.” Briefly: Pitcher Matt Moore on Eduardo Nuñez ’s helmet flying off his head every time he runs the bases: “They make chin straps.” … Buster Posey ’s hitless start Friday was his second in May. … The Cubs changed their rotation for their four-game series against the Giants after a Saturday rainout. The Giants will open the series Monday night against John Lackey , whom they were not supposed to face, and will miss Jake Arrieta , who was supposed to pitch Thursday. Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Leading off Homer note: The Giants are the last team in the majors not to have a three-run homer. The Rockies, surprisingly, did not have one until Friday. — Henry Schulman On deck Sunday at Cardinals 11:15 a.m. NBCSBA Cain (3-1) vs. Wainwright (3-3) 4 Monday at Cubs 5:05 p.m. NBCSBA Blach (1-2) vs. Lackey (4-3) Tuesday at Cubs 4:05 p.m. NBCSBA Cueto (4-3) vs. Hendricks (3-2) Leading off Homer note: The Giants are the last team in the majors not to have a three-run homer. The Rockies, surprisingly, did not have one until Friday. — Henry Schulman Leading off Homer note: The Giants are the last team in the majors not to have a three-run homer. The Rockies, surprisingly, did not have one until Friday. San Jose Mercury News Christian Arroyo’s tenacious double sends surging Giants to 13-inning win over Cardinals Andrew Baggarly ST. LOUIS – Jeff Samardzija held off the Cardinals while throwing eight innings of brilliance. The Giants defense made making one rally snuffing play after another. A passing thunderstorm accounted for another 42-minutes of delayed gratification Saturday night. Then it was Christian Arroyo’s turn to draw out the drama in a scoreless game that extended to 12 innings. The 21-year-old rookie worked a 12-pitch at-bat that resulted in a two-run double, pinch hitter Nick Hundley followed with a sacrifice fly and the Giants fought for a 3-1 victory 5 over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. For all their pratfalls this season, the Giants are 5-2 in extra-inning games. And every night like this reinforces their internal belief that they have the pieces to wedge their way back into the National League playoff picture this season. Mark Melancon, despite a recent stay on the disabled list, pitched for a second consecutive day and recorded a save while allowing a run as the Giants won for the seventh time in eight games. It took Samardzija’s dominance, plenty of defensive highlights and some clever bullpen work to advance the Giants into the 12th inning despite collecting all of two singles in the first 11. They broke through against Cardinals left-hander Kevin Siegrist. Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Eduardo Nuñez hit consecutive singles with one out. Then Arroyo flicked away six two-strike offerings, and took two others out of the zone before getting a changeup that he drove off the left field fence. It was more evidence of what Giants manager Bruce Bochy described prior to the game, when he credited Arroyo with staying even keeled despite hitting just .179 in his previous 11 games. The game winner came long after Samardzija threw the last of his 105 pitches, but there was no minimizing his contribution. The Giants’ right-hander struck out eight in eight innings while extending an eyebrow-raising streak without issuing a walk. His last free pass came on April 28.